Last Blog!!

I thought using the blog rather than journals was a good idea.  Using a blog is an easier way to do the same thing using technology. The blog is more accessible once set up and easier to use.  Plus being able to type out all my posts was better than writing it out.  I have really bad handwriting.  So i liked using the blogs compared to using a journal. 

Different Types of Workshop Reviews

I thought the reading of our essay to each other was the most effective way to proof the essays and get  feedback.  When I read my essay out loud to other people I noticed more grammatical errors and got good feedback from the other people in my group.  It also made me more comfortable with my essay.  The writing reviews on other people's paper might help a little, but I think the on the spot feedback from a person face to face is the best form of revision.   

Thanksgiving!

My family has always celebrated thanksgiving a little differently than most people do.  My family always volunteers at our Church to help serve a community Thanksgiving dinner.  I usually help with the setting and clearing of the tables.  Usually over two hundred people are served at the Church and many more meals are taken out to the elderly that are unable to come.  Serving food at a Church may not be as fun as relaxing with family and watching football, but it still is rewarding.  

How the Outline Worked

The outlined used to help create the literary analysis helped me to create a better paper.  It made it easier to organize my ideas and put them into essay format.  I liked how it directed me and made my paper more structured than others have been.

Revised Thesis

Richard Connell's "The Most Dangerous Game" depicts many of the controversial ideas of social Darwinism and symbolism in General Zaroff''s and Mr. Rainsford's fight for survial of the fittest.

Thesis For The Most Dangerous Game

Richard Connell's "The Most Dangerous Game" expresses controversial ideas of the early 1900's by relating General Zaroff and Mr. Rainsford to the Darwinian philosophy of natural selection.  

Reading Critically

 I reread the stories slowly trying to find hidden meaning and symbolism.  This really helped in finding the theme in the stories.  The stories made much more sense the second time.  Highlighting important symbolism helped me to understand what was implied by the author.  Reading Critically took far more time, but helped me understand the stories quite a bit better. 

Symbols in the Two Stories

                                                           A White Heron Symbols
In the story A White Heron there was a lot of hidden meaning and Symbolism.  I believe there are multiple ways to interpret this story.  Some symbols used in the story include: the cow/milk, the white heron, the young man with the gun, the tall pine tree and all the women in the story live in the country.  I believe the cow and its milk symbolize a dependence on something or someone else as the girl and her grandmother are to the the cow for milk.  I also think that the white heron symbolises purity and nature.  The man probably symbolizes the influence of the city or male dominance over others.  The tall pine tree goes a long with the sexual interpretation of this story.  All the women living in the country might symbolize that women are less educated than the man from the city in the story.  This story symbolizes the way women are considered subordinate

                                                       The Yellow Wall-Paper Symbols
In the story The Yellow Wall-Paper there is also a lot of deep meaning.  The story has some symbolism in almost every part.  Some forms of symbolism in this story include:  the husband as a physician, the wall-paper, the women's sickness, and the way the women was cooped up in the house.  The yellow wall-paper might represent sickness.  I also think that the man as a physician makes men out to be more powerful.  The women's sickness in the story symbolizes that women are subordinate to men and  depend upon them.  The way the women is kept in the house at all time symbolizes how all other women at that time were kept at home as house wives.  This story very much symbolizes the injustice women went through in the 1900's when it was written.    

The Roles of Women in the 1900's

As Godwin explains in his online postings up until the mid 1900's women's roles had been the same for thousands of years (par.1).  This is true because up until the 1900th century men took on the role as the primary bread winner and women stayed home and raised the children.  According to Godwin a big factor that changed these roles was World War II (par.2).  When the men left for war many jobs opened up to women that they traditionally never held. This was the first time that women could make a decent wage doing the work that men normally did (Godwin, par. 2).  World War II was a terrible event but, it did help women to become more independent.    

In my opinion women today have far more rights than they did in the 1900's.  Even though women have many more rights they are are not yet equally treated.  Women hold less positions in the government for example.  Women are still not treated equally as men are in many aspects of today's society. 
                                                                                                                                           Godwin, Randy. "A look at 1900's Men and Women roles." Online Source.2002. Helium. Web. 31 October 2010. <http://www.helium.com/items/785688-a-look-at-1900s-men-and-women-roles>.

Very Interesting Stories

I have read these two pieces of literature before in high school.  Both The most Dangerous Game and An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge have a twisting plot.  They move in a direction that a first time reader usually can't predict.  These two stories are interesting in their own way.  The Owl Creek Bridge story gives the reader a false sense of hope.  It makes you believe that Peyton got away and escaped death.  This makes me disappointed because when I read stories I often times put myself into the main characters point of view.  This point of view looked great when Peyton was getting away but all my hopes were dashed when at the very end I find out that he was just imagining it.  The Most Dangerous Games is a really good story too.  I think it is one of my favorite short stories.  The idea of being hunted makes me look  from different perspective as the person hunted.  The story is full of mystery and creates suspense.  I liked this story a lot because the main character does in the end survive and prevail over the mad man against all odds.    

My thoughts on Omelas

This was a really strange short story.  It went back and forth between a fictional place and real world issues making it confusing.  I thought that one of the themes from this short story was that for there to be happiness someone must be experiencing pain.  I thought that the ones who leave Omelas might be the people who do not accept this principal. It was hard to find out what this story might be saying.  This was the first time I've read this story and it was difficult to understand. 

The Research Essay

This essay was really long and took a lot of time and work.  I wish I would have started working on it sooner.  It took far longer to accomplish than I originally thought it would.  In retrospect I also think I should have made more note cards from my sources.  Making more of them would have made writing the essay easier to do.  Also I need to start working on these long research essays at least a week or two before they are due.

How the Year has been going

So far English 101 has been going smoothly without too many bumps.  I like blogging better than keeping daily journal entries.  Some nights have been late finishing a paper due the next day but, that's usually expected.  I think 8:00 o'clock seems to be getting earlier everyday.  Its hard to wake up so soon.  Other than that English 101 seems to be working out just fine.   

Topic for Research Paper

The topic for my research paper will be over cancer.   I plan to look up more information on it to narrow down that huge topic range.  I also hope to find a argument to go along with my topic.  I don't know what kind of an argument cancer could bring up yet.

Topics for the Research paper

My initial plan for this research paper was to add more information to the first draft of my organ donation essay.  Now, I would like to make a research paper on the four most common types of cancer.  I think this topic would make an interesting and informative research paper.  This topic will be much easier to find good information on than it is to find information on organ donation. 

Presentation

The group presentations were a good idea.  They helped me learn about the variety of ways to edit and correct my paper.  My project was about how to say things in a fresh way.  I talked about the cliches used in writing and ways to fix them.  The presentations were a good way to learn. 

The First week of Exams

Surprisingly, the 3 exams I took this last week went rather well.  I had exams in sociology, algebra, and biology on the same day.  I did a lot of studying for them and it seems to have payed off.  I don't know how much harder college classes will get but, I'm barely keeping up now.  I have no more free time left in the day.  The days in college go by so much faster too.  College has been a good experience so far... 

Thesis

World governments need to adhere to the UN international statutes, create more laws that ban organ trade, and increase the supply of cadaver donations.

People Screwing up America

I thought this was a very controversial viewpoint.  Bernard Goldberg had some strange outlooks on many topics.  I thought that he right that most journalist today portray America as an immoral, terrible place.  I think America is a really great place to live and most of the policies are fair.  But on the other hand, I do see some sense in journalist trying to hold America to always a higher standard.  But, I don't see why a negative image of America has to be broadcast out to the world all the time.  I also felt that he had a point about most celebrities.  Most celebrity opinions I find extremely uneducated and stupid.  I agreed him on the point that Abu Ghraib was blown out of proportion.  Yes, what the soldiers did there was unethical and wrong.  But, not worse than other military crimes committed by the US.  The author of the book had a very conservative viewpoint.  Which I did not always agree with. 

Peer Review!!

When I originally heard we were going to do a peer review I was not happy.  I had never done one before and it didn't sound like fun.  I thought the review was like an edit at first.  But, when we did the peer review it wasn't all that bad.  I actually got some good feedback about my essay.  I also was able to read a peer's essay.  The essay I read was really interesting.  So in the end I thought the peer review was a good idea.

If I was to Die tomorrow

If I was to die tomorrow I think the world would be different. It probably wouldn't change in a grand way though.  But, it would change for the people who know me.  Really, I don't think a persons life should be based on if they get put into the history books or not.  I believe a persons life is judged by God the creator. So it matters little in the end if future generations remember my name. I believe that obeying and serving God are the only things that really matter in this life. I also believe that one day the world as we know it will end, but, Gods Kingdom will live forever.  

This Reading was a Real Page Turner

The information from the Quick Access Compact was useful but extremely dull.  I did manage to retain some information from it though.  I did not know that there was such an elaborate process for critical thinking.  I also did not realize that there are so many ways to say a sentence that can make it sound correct, but actually be false.  The section 4i on logical fallacies was quite useful as well.  It gave many examples of the types of false statements that sound true to the reader.   

What a Sad Story

When I read the first chapter of the "Notebook", I was quite moved.  The story is about an old man in a nursing home who is trying to make his love remember.  He reads out this notebook to her everyday hoping that one day she might remember their life together.  This story made me think about my own life.  Like what will I be doing when I am old.  Will I be surrounded by family?  Will I be alone?  I don't know.  I really feel for the family members of Alzheimer's victim's.  I think that is the worst thing that can happen to a person.  Forgetting who you are. 

Wow Fredrick Douglass had a strong desire for knowledge

Of the three stories we read, the story "Learning to Read and Write" by Fredrick Douglass,  impacted me the most.  Fredrick had a true desire for knowledge at such a young age.  I have a deep respect for that now.  When I was younger I couldn't wait to get out of the classroom.  Having to sit down and try to learn how to read was never any fun.  I always wanted to go outside and play instead.  I also think that gleaning information from others and trying to teach yourself to read would be extremely difficult.  I can't imagine learning to read like that.     

Some facts about me

My name is Jake Hemenway.   I was born in Detroit lakes, Minnesotta.  But I grew up in the small town of Huron, South Dakota.  In high school I enjoyed participating in sports like wrestling and pole vaulting.  I'm the kind of person who likes to get outside and enjoy the day for what it is.   I guess I came to USD because it had a Medical program and looked like a good school.       I hope I didn't put you to sleep with that introduction.  lol

Wow I've never made a Blog before

Making this blog was a challege for me.  I have never made my own blog before.  What are we even supposed to talk about on this blog?   Was making a blog hard for anyone else?